Apple Pay And Samsung Pay Race To Grab A Bite Of China's Spending Power

Both Samsung Pay and Apple Pay are set to conquer the Chinese market at just around the same time, as the competing companies both announced having secured a deal with China’s UnionPay. This is a large nod to the spending power of the Chinese market, as, according to a report from Reuters, the Chinese spent a total of 91.2 billion yuan or US$14.32 billion on “Singles’ Day,” China’s equivalent of “Black Friday.” Within the first 12 hours alone, the Chinese online shoppers had racked up US$9 billion in sales. These figures alone are most likely part of the rationale why the two tech giants are racing to grab China as the market for their electronic payment systems.

More on China’s Singles’ Day—A gold mine of opportunity for any tech company:

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-alibaba-singles-day-idUSKCN0SZ34J20151112

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/nov/11/china-singles-day-new-record-online-shopping-alibaba

https://www.theverge.com/2015/11/10/9703478/Singles-day-vs-black-friday

This news comes close on the heels of how Samsung won’t back down, in spite of how it lost the patent lawsuit vs. Apple. Just this Dec. 14, news broke out that Samsung is taking the legal battles to the United States Supreme Court. Apparently, neither are they backing down from the race to secure the billion-dollar Chinese market.

More on Samsung taking the lawsuit battle vs. Apple to the Supreme Court: https://www.cnet.com/news/samsung-takes-apple-patent-battle-to-us-supreme-court/

Neither is Samsung backing down from the American Market, as it has aggressively worked to secure more financial partners for Samsung Pay. As of the Dec. 15, they have secured 19 more Visa and Mastercard issuers to the Samsung Pay-eligible list.

Samsung adds 19 more Visa and Mastercard issuers to its list: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20151215006157/en/Samsung-Pay-Adds-19-MasterCard-Visa-Issuers

Android Pay, which is Google’s very own e-payment processor, is also targeting the Chinese market. As early as November 2014, rumors have swirled that Android Pay is looking to partner with UnionPay, as well.

When Android Pay was rumored to partner with UnionPay in 2014: https://www.businessinsider.com/android-pay-is-coming-to-china-with-unionpay-2014-11

As there has been no recent news on Android Pay’s bid to catch the Chinese market, it’s worth noting that Android’s in-house e-payment processor seems to be lacking attention from the mobile OS giant. In fact, the report that it just integrated in-app payments just this Dec. 16 is a disappointing indicator of how it is lagging behind the mobile payments race.

Read more on the rollout of in-app purchases on Android Pay: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/12/android-pay-adds-in-app-purchasing-feature-catches-up-to-apple-pay/

In any case, with the Android Team spread too thin on so many projects, it will be no surprise if it catches up to Apple and Samsung in dipping its feet into the Chinese market. More than that, remember how Google isn’t that much of friends with China? With that note, it won’t be surprising if Android Pay will never reach Chinese shores.

Reminders that Google and China aren’t best of friends:

https://www.pcworld.com/article/187259/facebook_privacy_google_china.html

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2889813/Google-s-Gmail-blocked-China-Activists-claim-government-stopping-people-checking-emails.html

https://www.buzzfeed.com/jwherrman/google-china-isnt-just-censored-its-totally-bro#.qmyV5Xy9lD

Either way, looks like there will be two major players on the e-payments and mobile payments forefront, and that’s Apple Pay and Samsung Pay. May the best e-payment processor win.

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More on how Apple Pay and Samsung Pay partnered with UnionPay China:

https://www.theverge.com/2015/12/17/10471128/apple-pay-china-2016-launch

https://www.theverge.com/2015/12/18/10526450/samsung-pay-china-unionpay-2016-launch